Akin represents Missouri District 2, the suburbs of St. Louis--including Ballwin, Florisant, Kirkwood, Wentzville, Clayton, Wildwood, and many others.
Karen's story is a great example of how MOBikeFed and STLBikeFed, working together with a whole lot of support from members and supporters like you, is able to carry our message to Missouri's congressional delegation:
The top story, of course, is the news about Congressman Akin, who agreed to join the Congressional Bike Caucus. Our Missouri delegation, who gathered outside of his office just before 3 p.m. yesterday, frankly had no idea what to expect behind his doors. We only knew that following Brent's email appeal [to MoBikeFed and St. Louis Regional Bike Fed supporters in Akin's district] late Wednesday afternoon, Akin's office had been deluged with phone calls and emails...and that we Missouri bicycle advocates on Capitol Hill finally had a meeting scheduled with one of his aides.
Filing in to his reception area were Brent and Jan Hugh of the Missouri Bicycle Federation, Todd Antoine, deputy director of Great Rivers Greenway, and Wes Ridgeway and I from the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation. (I'm recounting from memory, not notes. Those of you who were there, please speak up to correct me as necessary.) I believe that Eric Rogers, a Kansas City board member of the Mo Bike Fed, also attended this meeting. Patty Vinyard, executive director of the St. Louis Bike Fed, walked in about 10 minutes later.
We did not have even a moment to think about sitting down when Congressman Akin stepped out of his office into his reception area. For those who may not know, this simply does not "happen" in Washington. His appearance before our delegation was no accident.
Our conversation started with a discussion of his neighborhood. He lives in Wildwood. He told us that when he is home on weekends he sees more bicyclists than autos on his road. He told us that he loves to ride his bicycle, especially on the Katy Trail.
We discussed what bicyclists want when they ride through his district in West St. Louis County, or St. Charles County, or anywhere: Mainly the right to do so, without harassment and without fear.
Perhaps 10 minutes into the conversation, I popped the question to Congressman Akin. First I apologized, pointing out that I knew he would prefer to get this question from a constituent, but: Would he consider joining the Congressional Bike Caucus?
I know I wasn't the only one in the room blown away when he said yes.
Before I go any further, I must be crystal clear: Congressman Akin did *not* join the Congressional Bike Caucus because I asked him. He did *not* appear in his reception area because we had a 3 p.m. appointment. He did these things because he heard from so many of you, his voters. Akin's staff told Brent that the congressman received 20 phone calls in 20 minutes yesterday afternoon. When they came to work on Thursday morning, their voice mail box was full with messages from cyclists. Emails poured in. His receptionist told us that 10 minutes before we arrived, she had just taken another call.
After some photos with the congressman, we had a cordial conversation with and presented our large packet of Missouri bicycle information to Matthew Dunlay, Akin's legislative fellow who--guess what?--is a bicyclist!
Karen Karabell of the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation sent the following report of our meeting with Rep. Todd Akin.
Hopefully it will be as common as driving a car.
Good Job, Karen!!!